The Disturbing Rise of Nick Fuentes Highlights Dangers of Alternative Media in an Anti-Woke World

Nicole Hester/Ann Arbor News via AP, File

In recent weeks, far-right provocateur and white nationalist leader Nick Fuentes has been receiving accolades from many of his fellow pro-MAGA travelers for his ongoing feuds with the likes of Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, as well as for his vicious anti-Israel rhetoric.

Glenn Greenwald, also a fierce critic of Israel, heaped praise on Fuentes in mid-August, saying he is “spectacularly talented. I mean, he’s like, like, you know, a very rare, like generational talent in terms of his ability to go before the camera, attract attention, be charismatic, but he’s not like a ranter and a raver.”

“Nick Fuentes is very well read, very, very informed. There aren’t a lot of people who know more about Nick-, who know more about the topics Nick Fuentes covers than Nick Fuentes. It’s very impressive,” added Greenwald, the former Guardian journalist turned podcaster.

Vincent Oshana, a co-host on Patrick Bet-David’s popular podcast, offered a similar take, agreeing that Fuentes is on “a generational run.” He added, “And right now, I don’t care what anybody says, he is freaking on fire.” Bet-David also said he would be open to having Fuentes on his show, which would give him access to his massive audience and potentially bring him into their ecosystem.

Fuentes’s rising popularity and influence on the right have also stunned observers of the space. Independent journalist Yashar Ali noted last week, “Nick Fuentes’ resurgence has not been surprising, but it is still stunning in both its speed and breadth.” While Fuentes has grabbed headlines through high-profile associations — including a dinner with Donald Trump and an ongoing friendship with Kanye West — he and his “Groyper Army” of young white nationalists have remained largely marginalized within the broader MAGA movement.

Fuentes’s reemergence as a voice many are taking seriously is a flashing warning sign of the total collapse of ideological guardrails on the right. It is also a sign that the backlash against “cancelling” hate speech has now led many to completely overlook it – no matter how bigoted or vicious it has been. And with Fuentes, it has been completely off the charts for years.

Past action taken against Fuentes for his bigotry has now led many to embrace him, particularly as anti-woke sentiment permeates every corner of the MAGA base. Bet-David pushed Oshana on why he’s embracing Fuentes now, and he replied, “You know what it is? Because, okay, name the person that can’t even be on YouTube, he can’t be on YouTube because of the stuff that he says, they froze his bank account.”

Fuentes was deplatformed in recent years over his explicit anti-Semitism, as well as his repeated calls for limiting the rights of women, minorities, and the LGBTQ community. His regular use of violent rhetoric has also caused alarm.

In 2022, for example, Fuentes called for a “dictatorship” to get rid of “the Jewish media” that has made Americans “evil” by making various things popular. “Sodomy is popular, you know, being gay is popular, being a feminist is popular, sex out of wedlock is popular, contraceptives are, that’s all popular. That’s not to say it’s good; that’s not to say I like that. Popular means that people support it, which they do. And, uh, and it sucks and it is what it is, but that’s why we need — dictatorship. That’s unironically why we need to get rid of all that,” he ranted, adding:

We need to take control of the media or take control of the government and force the people to believe what we believe or force them to play by our rules and reshape the society.

Fuentes’s rhetoric hasn’t changed much since. On a podcast with fellow far-right influencers Andrew Tate and Myron Gaines, Fuentes said, “My movement says we’re about American sovereignty. We want to break free from Israel. We want a break free from Jewish oligarchs; it’s identitarian. America has a white character. It has a European character. It’s racial. That has a lot to do with it. We need to shut down immigration. We need to get rid of this oligarchic syndicate that’s running our country.”

In the past, Fuentes has called for the execution of non-Christians and promised to kill for Trump.

Greenwald, who is both gay and Jewish, did note that Fuentes is prone to “provocative” and sometimes “offensive” rhetoric, but argued that’s “part of the whole presence.”

While Greenwald certainly may be right that Fuentes is putting on a show and his rhetoric may be performative in many ways, it in no way justifies praising the popular dissemination of hate speech that can easily incite actual violence and only serves to pit Americans against each other.

American politics is undeniably shifting as a result of alternative media and the rise of unfiltered and unedited voices, which come with both benefits and disadvantages. But embracing “charismatic” commentators who push explicit hate speech must remain a red line in our culture, and the reemergence of Fuentes into the political discourse should be a flashing warning sign of where America is headed if basic decency becomes a thing of the past. Fuentes has every right to exercise his free speech, but that certainly doesn’t mean he should be listened to, let alone praised. If his audience continues to grow, the rise of alternative media will mean something far more pernicious for society than perhaps even its biggest critics have warned thus far.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.